True Love Conquers it All
by Hotchsbabewriter
Summary: This is a edited version of my story True Love Conquers it all now edited by my beautiful friend SouthunLady.Emily and Aaron are now together and they find several obstacles to their happiness. Can they overcome those obstacles or will they end up giving up on their love. This is a sequence to From Hate To Love There is One Step
1. Chapter 1

DOES TRUE LOVE REALLY CONQUER IT ALL?

Summary

 **This is s sequel to From Hate To Love, There is One Step, Emily and Aaron are finally together and happily in love, but will they be able to overcome all the troubles they face as a couple? Who says "I love you" first; Emily finds out she is pregnant...at the same time, she also finds out Aaron might be cheating on her. Is their love strong enough to make it to the next step? Or, will they simply give up?**

Emily arrived at Quantico around seven in the morning; it was much earlier than her usual scheduled time, but she wanted to get all her paperwork done before the end of the day. She walked to her desk placing her cup of coffee down; she opened the bottom drawer of her desk to place her purse there. Then, taking her coat off to put on the back of her chair, she quickly glanced around; she was the only one there so far. Smiling, she sat down and decided to start working on her cases. Emily grabbed the pile of files she had left on top of her desk the night before and started reviewing them again. She opened the top drawer of her desk to reach for a pen, but she was surprised when she found a small glass box with a beautiful purple orchid inside. She was so astonished she quickly grabbed the box, smiling and pulling out the note that was sitting next to it. She smiled widely when she read the note:

"Thank you so much for the last four amazing months, my heart melts every time I see you smile."

There was no signature on the note, but Emily knew who the gift was from. She quickly glanced to the office of her Unit Chief and current boyfriend, Aaron Hotchner...they had been dating for the last four months and Emily didn't think she could be happier. Aaron and she had struggled a lot to be in a relationship during her first year at the BAU, but they were finally together and they were both crazy about each other. They hardly ever fought, they had phenomenal sex and their relationship was going amazingly well. Aaron was very romantic and sweet with her, and she didn't think she had ever met anyone so amazing. She pulled out her personal cell (they only used their personal phones for their relationship.) to quickly send a text.

 _Thank you for my beautiful flower, you are so amazing. -Emily._

Aaron was in his office going through budget information when his personal phone vibrated on his hip, he grabbed the phone and he smiled when he saw her text.

 _I think you are the amazing one. Lunch with me? Feng's Garden? -Aaron_

 _Love to….How about 2pm?-Emily_

 _That sounds great, by the way you look gorgeous today-Aaron._

 _Awww, thank you! You really are the best -Emily_

Emily put her phone away and got back to paperwork. The rest of the team arrived a little later that day and they all continued to work on paperwork. Around 1:30 PM Emily left for lunch, she would usually go with the guys, but today she excused herself saying she had errands to run. She arrived at the restaurant and parked her car. Aaron was already waiting for her outside...he opened the door for her and gently grabbed her hand. He pulled her close to him and kissed her deeply.

"Hello, beautiful, come on, let's go in."

He grabbed her hand, and they walked inside the restaurant. They were seated at a table outside on the patio since it was such a nice day outside. They ordered drinks and talked for a bit, then the waitress took their order, and left the couple alone. They talked about work a little, which they normally didn't do when they were alone, but this last case had been very hard for the entire team. They had just gotten back the night before, and they were all still recovering.

"I was thinking that tonight, I want to take you out to dinner somewhere nice here in Virginia" He said smiling and grabbing her hand. "Then we can get a nice hotel room and spend the night...I know we spend more time in hotels than home, but this is different...this will be a nice and luxurious hotel where we can actually relax and enjoy ourselves. Celebrate our four month anniversary."

"I think I like that idea, too." She said, grinning, then she kissed him softly on the lips and asked him, "How the hell did I get so lucky with you?"

"Oh no, baby, I'm the lucky one." Aaron answered, "But you, on the other hand, are going to get very lucky tonight." He said, with a cheeky smile and winking at her.

Emily playfully slapped his chest bursting into laughter, she loved it when Aaron was husky, and they enjoyed teasing each other and sending dirty messages to each other. Their relationship was amazing, Emily was very open-minded with him, and she was sexually curious and adventurous, she was also very funny, and she always made him smile, no matter what, she was basically the beacon that brightened his life.

-LATER THAT NIGHT IN THE HOTEL

"Ohhh God, Aaron…ohh Good don't stop." Emily moaned, as he moved in and out of her at a fast pace, they were both gasping and whimpering.

"Does that feel good, baby?" Aaron asked, pulling her earlobe into his mouth and going back to her clit with his fingers.

"Yes, yes, don't stop, ohhhhhhh." He grabbed her legs and put them behind his shoulders, thrusting deeper and harder.

"Oh God, I am going to cum, Aaron." She cried out. "Cum, baby, cum for me." Hotch kept his pace while her third climax hit her that night. Aaron kept pumping into her at the same pace with his tension building inside him.

"Damn, Emily, you feel so freaking good, oh God!" And he collapsed on top of her. Aaron stayed inside her for a while...he knew she liked that. He pulled out and moved onto the bed. Emily turned on her side with Aaron spooning behind her pulling her close to him. He knew that she liked being that close to him. He felt her relax and he whispered softly...

"Go to sleep, baby, I'm holding onto you."

"I know, I only feel safe when I'm in your arms." She said, closing her eyes. Emily knew Aaron always kept her safe; these were the best months of her life, and Hotch was the best thing that had ever happened to her. Only, it would not always be like that...


	2. Chapter 2

DOES TRUE LOVE REALLY CONQUER IT ALL?

 **I love you sounds like the three easiest words to say, but are they really? Aaron and Emily definitely love each other, but who says it first? Sometimes it takes a hard situation to take the courage to do it.**

Emily had just returned from giving at Child Advocacy Conference in Baltimore...the FBI had sent Emily because she was the only one with enough experience in the field. She walked into the bullpen and saw Morgan and Reid at their desks; making her way there, she placed her briefcase on her desk.

"Hey there, princess, how was it?" Morgan asked, grinning at her.

"It was actually very interesting...you know I love doing those things." Emily replied, smiling back at him.

"I know you do, hell, I don't even know what you're doing in the FBI, you could get a job anywhere you want with all your knowledge." He retorted, looking at her skeptically.

"Morgan, I love the BAU, this is where I want to be." She said, grinning at him.

"Okay, if you say so, by the way, we're going for drinks tonight, are you down?" Morgan asked.

"I would love to, but I have go see my mom tonight." She told him, since she didn't know what else to say, she was running out of excuses, ever since she started dating Aaron, she had hardly spent time with them.

"Okay, so spit it out...what's his name?" Morgan asked, profiling her and smiling at her.

"What's whose name?" Emily tried to look confused.

"Come on, Emily, I'm a profiler, too, you've been having a permanent smile lately, and you hardly ever spend time with us, so what's his name?" He was grinning at her.

"I don't know what you're talking about seriously, now, if you excuse me, some of us actually do work here." Emily said, sticking out her tongue and walking toward Aaron's office to let him know she was back from the conference. She softly knocked on the closed door and heard him tell her to come in. She walked in, but she stopped, surprised to see Haley in his office, and from what she could tell. they were having a very unpleasant conversation.

"Oh, sorry to disturb, Hi, Haley." Emily said, but Hayley did not respond back, she just glared at Emily. In fact, Hayley had been acting quite rude to her every time she came to drop Jack off, or to discuss things with Aaron. They had not told her or anyone about their relationship and she couldn't find another reason for the former wife to act like that with her.

"Aaron, I Just wanted to let you know I am back from Baltimore, and to see if you need anything else?" She stated a little uncomfortably. But, before he could respond Hayley spoke.

"Oh, I'm sure he'll let YOU know if he needs anything, Agent Prentiss." She spat sarcastically.

"I beg your pardon." Emily said, looking at her in disbelief...what the hell was her problem!

"I just said that I'm pretty sure he'll personally let you know if you need anything, especially when you are dressed like that." Haley responded impolitely.

Emily was wearing a very elegant business suit with a skirt and high heels. Emily had the tendency to look beautiful and elegant in anything she put on, but she looked sexy as hell in that suit. She couldn't believe Haley had dared to talk to her like that, she wanted to kick her ass right there, but she knew she had to remain professional for Aaron.

"Look, Haley, I don't what your problem is but." But, before she could finish, Aaron interrupted her cutting her off.

"Emily, actually, do you mind going to Garcia's office, she is supposed to bring me some files and I really need them." He said, pleading with her. "Please."

Okay, now she was furious, did he just ask her to leave after she was about to defend herself when his bitchy ex-wife insulted her. Did he really just take her side? She shot Aaron an evil glare and walked out of his office fuming. Emily went to Garcia's office, and then she left for lunch because she needed to calm down because her first instinct was to murder Aaron and his ex-wife. Aaron had actually asked Emily to leave his office to avoid a confrontation and cause a scene in the BAU, but he was well aware he had made her furious; he would talk to her later.

Emily had avoided him after that for the rest of the evening; she was so angry at him...she couldn't believe he had done that. She was working by herself in the conference room on some files when Aaron stepped in closing the door behind him.

"Em, look about earlier, we need to talk...I..." He started, but she didn't let him continue.

"What? Are you sure you don't want me go to Gracia's office again?" She spat, getting up from the table to walk away. Aaron grabbed her hand.

"Em, I just wanted to avoid a scene between you two." He said, looking at her.

"Are you fucking serious, she personally attacked me Aaron, what was I supposed to do, just let her insult me?" Emily shouted.

"No, what she said wasn't right, and I will fix that. I just don't really know why she is acting like that with you." He said, trying to make Emily calm down. But she just gave him the "lie to me and we will have a serious problem look."

"I think she suspects about us." Aaron said, looking at her intensely.

"And what if she does? It's not like you have to report to her?" She said raising her voice.

"I know that, I just don't want any problems with her, Em." Aaron said, getting closer to her.

"You don't want any issues with her? Or, you don't want her finding out about us?" Emily asked angrily.

"Emily, it's not that, and you know it, look, I just don't want any problems with her, she is the mother of my son and my ex-wife."

"Oh really? and what am I to you, Aaron?" She was shaking now; it was the first time they fought since they started dating. Aaron took a little too much time to respond. He loved her, he knew that, he hadn't yet said those three words to her because he was scared, and he didn't know how to do it without freaking her out. But he loved her...he had for a while now.

"Wow! you can't even respond to that!" Emily felt a knot in her stomach. "You know what, never mind, Aaron, I think you said just enough." And she stormed out of the conference room pushing past him.

"Emily, wait…" But she kept walking, ignoring him, grabbing her belongings and walking toward the door.

She got in her car and felt warm tears sliding down her face. She couldn't believe he had done that. Hell, he couldn't even say what Emily was in his life. She started driving, but she didn't want to go home, deciding she would meet the guys for drinks to get her head away from all this. She texted Morgan to tell him she was coming to meet them.

Aaron arrived at her place around nine that night. He brought her a flower bouquet and wanted to tell her that he loved her, but she didn't give him the chance to finish earlier that day. When he arrived at her apartment, he realized she wasn't there, so, he decided to wait in the little lounge area outside of her condo. He had to make things right no matter how long it would take her to return home.

When Emily arrived to her condo it was past one am. She was a little tipsy, but she didn't care, she wanted to forget about what happened that day so she drank a little too much. She parked her car and started walking to her condo. But, when she arrived to her condo door, she spied Aaron sitting outside the little waiting area. She exhaled, frustrated.

"Please don't tell me you've been here all night." She said knowing that he had been there for at least 4 hrs. "Go home, Aaron, I'm not in the mood."

"Emily, I'm not going to leave until we talk." He said, getting up from the sofa and walking toward her as Emily was opening her door.

"I don't think it's a good idea, I'm tired, and besides you already said enough this afternoon, please leave." She said, looking away from him.

"I love you." He said, not thinking twice about it. Emily's mouth dropped open.

"What?" She asked, astonished.

"I love you, Emily, I love you, I've been meaning to say that, God, I have loved you since you first joined the BAU, I was scared to tell you, I didn't want to freak you out. Everything happened so fast, I asked you to leave this afternoon, not because I am scared of Haley, I just didn't want YOU to lower to her level, Em, you are a much more educated and intelligent person, you shouldn't let her get to you." He said, looking at her and stopping for a second. Emily was in shock, he said it, he finally said it.

I'm sorry, Em, when you asked me this afternoon what you were to me, I didn't say anything because I couldn't even put into words what you are to me and." But, before he could say anything else, she walked to him wrapping her arms around him.

"Shut up, Aaron, and kiss me." And she pulled him into her arms in a passionate kiss. When they broke apart, she looked at him, teary eyed.

"I love you, too." He lifted her into his arms and carried her inside her apartment; to fully show her how much he really did love her. The problem was, there were still so many things they were going to have to challenge coming, this was just the beginning.


	3. Chapter 3

DOES TRUE LOVE REALLY CONQUER IT ALL?

Chapter 3

 **Aaron had finally told Emily he loved her, he had also told Haley about it, something the former wife didn't take too well, but they had been divorced for almost two-and-a-half years so Aaron didn't feel like giving her any explanations. He had also talked to Jack, the little boy was ecstatically happy, he loved Emily, and he wanted to spend as much time as he could with her, another reason for Haley to hate Emily. Haley's son couldn't stop talking about her, but Aaron didn't care, he had never been happier than since he started dating Emily. In fact, Aaron felt it was time to let someone else know about the beautiful brunette.**

Aaron and Emily had exchanged keys a while back, so instead of knocking in her condo door, he let himself in. It was a little past nine, and he had just returned from a meeting with the FBI directors. He was tired and all he wanted to do was curl into the couch with his girlfriend. Emily was waiting for him, she had made dinner for them, and she was happy to have the next three days off to spend with her man and Jack since it was Aaron's weekend with the little boy. She heard the door opening, and Aaron walked into the foyer, placing his briefcase on the floor and walking towards the kitchen. He spotted Emily tinkering around the kitchen and he smiled, walking behind her and wrapping his arms around her from behind.

"Hey there, beautiful." He said, kissing her neck and pulling her to him.

Emily turned around in his arms, "Hello there, Agent Aaronner." She greeted kissing his lips. "I was expecting you earlier."

"I'm sorry, baby, the meeting turned out to be longer than I expected, and then my mom called, so I spent quite awhile on the phone with her." He said, giving her sweet kisses.

"That's nice, you hardly ever talk to her, how did it go?" She asked, looking at him and smiling.

"Well, they want me to come this weekend to meet them at the beach cottage they have in Alexandria, they want to see Jack." Aaron said, still holding her close to him. That made Emily a little disappointed because she was excited about spending the weekend with her two favorite men, but she knew Aaron had not seen his parents in awhile, and she didn't want to ruin that for him.

"Oh." She said, disappointed, but she tried to hide it. "Well, I think that's a great idea...I'm sure you and Jack will have a blast."

"Actually, WE'LL have a blast, you're coming, too." He said, smiling at the fact that she didn't know how to lie.

"What?!" She asked, stunned.

"You're coming with us, I told them about you today, and they want to meet you, they want you to come for the weekend, too." Aaron kissed her lips, grinning...the look on her face was priceless.

"I...uh...I...don't think that's a good idea, I...um…I…think you should go with Jack alone." She said stammering and moving away from his arms...she started picking up things in the kitchen avoiding his gaze. Aaron just smiled.

"Emily," He called softly. But, she pretended she didn't hear, and she entertained herself with the coffee pot.

"Do you want coffee? Dinner is ready...I'll start serving if you want to sit down?" She said, nervously walking away.

"Emily Katherine Prentiss." He said in his Unit Chief tone. Since she didn't respond, he walked to her and turned her around in his arms, she looked away but he gently placed his finger on her chin bringing her eyes to look at him.

"You don't want to meet my parents?" He asked, trying to sound disappointed to tease her around.

"Its not that, it's just…I…are you sure you want me to meet them?" She said nervously, trying to look away from him.

"I wouldn't be telling you if I didn't want you to." He said softly, looking at her intensely. "Baby I love you, I'm crazy about you, and I told them that, they want to meet the woman that has stolen my heart, can you do this for me, please?" He asked, pleading with her.

"What if they don't like me?" She asked, looking away from him again, she knew Aaron's parents hated Haley, and she was terrified to meet them.

"Baby, I don't think there is a single person in this world that couldn't like you, you're amazing, but if you don't want to, I won't force you to go." He said, taking her face in his hands. "But, it would mean a lot to me if you come with us."

"All right, I'll do it for you." Emily said nervously. Aaron just smiled at her and kissed her.

"They'll love you, I promise."

The next morning, they left the house around 7:00 am to pick up Jack at his mother's house. Emily was nervous...she wanted to do this for Aaron, but this was a big step, what if his parents hated her like they hated his ex-wife. She tried to act calmly the entire drive there, but she couldn't hide her nerves. Aaron, sensing her behavior, kept grabbing her hand and placing soft kisses on it, smiling at her. They arrived at the cottage around one in the afternoon, and Aaron parked in the driveway of the cottage house and got out, helping Jack out of his booster seat, then opened Emily's door and held his hand out her for her to get out. He opened the entrance door to the cottage with his set of keys, and the three of them walked inside the beautiful cottage.

"Hello..." Aaron called from the foyer. A few minutes later, Aaron's dad came out smiling widely, greeting them at the door.

"Hey guys, you made it safely." But, Jack ran toward him as soon as he saw his grandfather.

"Grandpa!" Jack jumped into the older man's arms."

"Hey there, Champ, you've are so big, what has your daddy been feeding you?" They all chuckled. Then he placed the little boy down and went to hug Aaron, and then his attention turned to Emily.

"Hello, young lady, you must be Emily, I'm Richard Hotchner." And to her surprise, he pulled her into his arms hugging her, too.

"Hi, it's a pleasure to meet you." She said shyly.

"The pleasure is mine, sweetie, come on in, guys, make yourself comfortable." He said, leading them to the living room. "Your mother will be down in a second." A few minutes later, a very attractive lady came downstairs. Jack again ran toward her.

"Nanny…nanny!" Jack shouted joyous. The woman scooped Jack up in her arms, hugging the little boy tight to her.

"Hello, my baby boy, I missed you so much." Then she placed Jack down and directed her attention to her son.

"Aaron, I have to call you for you to remember about your mother." And she hugged the older Hotchner. When she turned to look at Emily she was smiling happily.

"Aaron told me you were amazing, he just didn't tell me you were this beautiful. It's a pleasure to meet you, darling. I'm Natalie." She said, shaking Emily's hand and kissing her cheek.

"I'm Emily, and it's an honor, Ma'am." Emily responded cordially.

They all sat down at the living room talking for a while, Jack playing by his grandparents the entire time. After a while, Aaron's mom called them into the dining room for dinner. Aaron's parents seemed to love Emily, and they were impressed that she was also an FBI agent. They were also impressed that she spoke that many languages, and they had also heard of Emily's mother, so they knew she was from a good family. They ate dinner laughing and joking and making conversation with Emily, and she graciously responded to all their questions.

"So, Emily, tell me something, how did a beautiful and intelligent woman like you lay eyes on ugly her?" Richard said playfully, pointing at Aaron. Emily just chuckled.

"I think your son is an amazing man, I'm the lucky one to be with him." She said smiling. Aaron pulled her into his arms and kissed her softly on the check.

The whole weekend went by so fast Emily couldn't believe it; she was so nervous to go there in the first place, but they ended up having an amazing time. They went to the beach, and she enjoyed chasing Jack around, and she also spent time talking to Aaron's parents, they were amazing people and they seemed to like her a lot. On their last day at the cottage, they went to a beautiful place by the beach for dinner; right before they headed back home, Emily paid the tab secretly, something that didn't make any of the Hotchner's happy, but they had already fallen in love with her. Aaron's mom could see how tender and attentive she was with Jack and Aaron; she also could see how much she loved them and how selfless she was. She was happy see her son in love with someone that seemed to love him back in the same way. It was time to say goodbye, and they were outside the cottage saying goodbye to the parents.

"It's been a pleasure to meet you, darling, Aaron is really lucky to have you in his life." Aaron's mom said, hugging Emily.

"Thank you, it's been such a privilege, thank you so much for all the hospitality." Emily said, smiling at the woman. Then the mother turned to hug the Hotchner man. Richard came to Emily and wrapped his arm around her.

"Call me if he gives you any trouble, sweetie, I'll straighten him out." He said, winking his eye at Emily. She couldn't stop herself from bursting into laughter,

"I'll keep that in mind." She said, laughing and hugging him and once again thanking him for everything.

Then, they all got in the car and drove away...after a little while, Aaron turned to see Emily and smiled at her; his parents had loved her, they had an amazing weekend, and now it was time to go home. He kept glancing at her and smiling.

"What?" She asked curiously, smiling too.

"Nothing, it's just you didn't want to come, and they adored you, I told you they would." He said, grinning at her, his dimples showing deeply.

"They are amazing people, Aaron, I liked them a lot." She said, squeezing his hand and looking out the window. They drove in silence for a little while, and then he turned to look at her again..

"Em….?"

"Yeah?" She said, looking back at him.

"I love you." He said, grabbing her hand and kissing it.

"I love you, too." She winked at him.


	4. Chapter 4

DOES TRUE LOVE REALLY CONQUER IT ALL

Chapter 4

 **Sometimes jealously makes people do things they were scared of doing.**

The relationship between Emily and Aaron kept growing daily. They had met Aaron's parents a few weeks ago, and basically everyone knew about them except for the team with the exception of Dave and Jason. Aaron didn't think it was a good idea to tell them yet; they had been dating for almost eight months now, but when it came down to work, he was more cautious. Jason and Dave were his best friends, and he trusted them more than anything, and he trusted the rest of the team, too, but he knew Morgan would begin teasing him nonstop. He knew that Garcia and JJ would be bugging Emily for every detail of their relationship, and he didn't really want them to be sharing his private life with her to the rest of the team. On the other hand, he knew Garcia and Morgan weren't really the best at keeping secrets, they both loved gossip...most of the time harmless gossip, but he didn't want to risk someone else finding out about it and going to Strauss. Emily on the other hand, thought they should just tell them, after all, they were their friends and family, and they would be happy for them, but they had ended up in a few arguments about it, and Emily just decided to leave it alone and let him decide when it was appropriate to tell them. But when Morgan started joking around with his girlfriend, the green-eyed- monster came to visit Aaron, and he wasn't so sure about hiding things anymore.

The entire team was spread around the bullpen; they had not been on a case for a few days now, and they were just enjoying the quiet days at the office, but then they started to grow bored, so they were chatting around Morgan's desk talking about women, and how Morgan had been with more women that he could remember. They were all joking and laughing loudly, and Aaron was in his office and could hear everything because his door was open; he didn't mind them chatting around, since they never had time for that and all their paperwork was done, so he decided to let them relax for a little bit without being a drill sergeant...that was, at least until Morgan said something to Emily that he did not like...NOT EVEN A LITTLE!

"I really don't know how you do it, how do you manage to get all these beautiful girls to sleep with you?" Emily said, jokingly. "I wouldn't even let you on my Facebook page." Everyone started laughing.

"She is right, you're such a player, and you're not even that good looking." JJ teased around, making everyone laugh again.

"Trust me, Emily, you have no idea just how happy I can make them...I can give you a free demo anytime you want." He said, playing around and grinning at her; they all knew he was just joking since Emily was basically like a sister to him.

"Ewwww, no thanks, I'm gonna pass on that, besides you aren't even my type." She said, giggling and laughing. But, before he could say anything else, Aaron was already on the catwalk.

"Morgan, you need to watch your mouth and be more respectful to your coworkers...next time, I'll write you up." His eyes were green, and he was pissed. Everyone turned to look at the Unit Chief astonished; they always joked around him, and he had never reacted like that. They had no idea what was going on, except Emily, who was in shock and glaring at Aaron in disbelief.

"Everyone back to work, Prentiss, to my office, NOW!" He shouted, Emily stood up from her desk and made her way to his office. Aaron closed the door behind them.

"What the hell is his problem?" Morgan asked, still astonished about Aaron's reaction.

"I have no idea, but he looks pissed." Gracia said, looking towards the office.

Everyone was in shock looking at Aaron's office, Morgan keep glancing at his friends, what the hell, what's wrong with him, he always teased the girls around, and he never had a problem with it, why now? And why did he call Emily in, was he gonna write her up? Suddenly Morgan started feeling a knot in his stomach; this was technically his fault, and now he had gotten her in trouble. He knew how much they had struggled to be on good terms. The last thing they needed was to start having issues again.

"Do you mind telling me what the hell is the matter with you?" Emily asked, in a very serious tone once they were inside his office.

"With me?" He asked, turning around to look at her. "He is making sexual jokes to YOU, and you think that something is wrong with me?" He asked, snarling at her furiously.

"OMG, Morgan was just joking, Aaron." Emily said, getting angry too.

"Emily, he is offering to take you to bed, do you think that's a joke?" He was looking at her incredulously and raising his voice.

"Keep your voice down, Aaron." She warned. "He was just joking around, it was just a stupid joke."

"I don't want him talking to you, or around you at all, I forbid you to talk to him." Aaron demanded.

"Are you kidding me? We work together, I can't just stop talking to him because you're jealous!" She spat stunned.

"Emily, you're my girlfriend, and I don't like the way he talks to you, and I definitely won't tolerate him making those jokes to you." He snarled.

"Fine, then why don't we just tell them about us, Aaron?" She responded in the same tone.

"You know we can't do that yet, Emily." He said, looking at her with anger.

"Okay, so, you want to control who I talk to and who I can joke with, but you won't admit our relationship." It was obvious she was starting to get really mad.

"Emily, can we just not argue about this here, we are not telling them anything yet, can we please have this conversation later?" He asked, almost pleading.

"You know what NO! We aren't talking about this later or ever, we are done! I'm done being a fucking game to you...you want to control my life and every one of my moves, but you want to keep me hidden like a dirty little secret, we are over!" She spat and walked out of his office fuming.

The entire team was watching the scene, they had heard them argue, but they couldn't hear what they were arguing about since the door was closed. When Emily came out, she slammed the door, leaving everyone aghast. She furiously walked in front of them without stopping, she was going to make her way to the exit door, but Aaron came running after her and stopped her in the middle of the bullpen. He grabbed her arm and turned her around pulling her in his arms. He crashed his lips on hers and started kissing her passionately...at first, she tried to pull away, but then she surrendered to his passion. The team was watching the entire thing and they were completely speechless, Rossi had also come out of his office to see what hell was going on. He smiled at the scene in front of him and at the astonished faces of the team. Finally, after a couple of minutes, JJ cleared her throat a little loudly; they pulled apart, and Aaron turned around to face them; he gently grabbed Emily's hand and moved a little closer to the team.

"Umm…I…we've been dating for a while, and I'm madly in love with her." Aaron said, looking at the team seriously.

"What?" Everyone said in unison.

"Since when?" Reid asked, confused. "I thought you hated each other." But, since Emily and Aaron were now blushing and couldn't speak; Rossi responded making his way where the team was.

"They have been dating for what? Eight months, guys?" He said, looking at the couple and chuckling at the still astonished faces of the team.

"God, do you really call yourselves profilers? Why do you think they were so mean to each other, they were head over heels for each other, they were both just too stubborn to admit it!" He said, with a big grin.

"Omg! Wow! Congratulations, guys." JJ said.

"You actually look really cute together." Garcia said, congratulating them, too.

"Oh shit! I'm so sorry, Aaron, I didn't know, I swear I was just joking with her." Morgan said, apologizing to the Unit Chief. Finally, he understood why Aaron had gotten so pissed.

"It's all right, Morgan." Aaron said, smiling at Morgan. He pulled Emily in his arms and kissed her again.

"We didn't want to tell you because of Strauss, and because there was so much we needed to fix first, but I love her more than I ever loved anyone, perhaps more than I ever loved Haley." He said looking back at Emily, who had fresh tears rolling down her face.

"What did you say?" Emily asked with her mouth agape.

"I love you, you aren't a dirty secret for me, I love you more than I have ever loved anyone" He said pulling her in for another kiss.

They stood there in front of the team kissing, Rossi told the team to leave them alone and let them enjoy their moment. The team was still shocked but smiling, and walked away from them. They both deserved this, they both had been through so much, and they deserved this more than anyone. But, there were still many challenges the couple had to overcome.


	5. Chapter 5

DOES TRUE LOVE REALLY CONQUER IT ALL

Chapter 5

 **Just when everything seemed to be going great, something had to happen making a brutal change for the couple. Haley never liked the fact that Emily and Aaron were dating, she was hoping it was a temporary thing and Aaron would realize he still loved her, but as time passed, she realized Aaron was becoming more serious about Emily. Haley decided to interfere and get her ex back no matter what. What would Emily be willing to sacrifice for love?**

It was a quiet morning in the BAU; the team was alone working on assigned serial killer reports and investigations. Aaron and Rossi were away in a Terrorism Conference, and they would be gone most of the day. Everyone had an extensive amount of paperwork to do, so they were all quietly working at their own desk. Emily was, as always, submerged in her work; she was very dedicated and usually the best at everything, even paperwork. Around two in the afternoon, Morgan, Garcia and Reid decided to head out for lunch, and they asked the Emily if she wanted to join them, but she refused and asked them to just bring her something back. That left Emily and JJ alone in the bullpen; JJ was in her office on the phone with detectives trying to decide which case to pick next. Emily was deep into her work when a very familiar voice interrupted her.

"Hello, Emily." Haley said in a cold tone. Emily turned around to see the former Mrs. Hotchner staring at her intensely.

"Haley…Hi…um …Aaron is not here, he is away at a conference." She said, as politely as she could respond. She was aware Haley hated her.

"Actually, it's you whom I wanted to speak with, if you have a minute, please?" Haley said, accompanied with a fake smile.

"Sure." Emily nodded, leading her to the conference room, in case anyone walked in. She walked in followed by Haley, and Emily closed the door behind them.

"What can I do for you, Haley?" Emily asked, as she was trying to remain polite.

"I think we need to discuss a few things about your relationship with Aaron." Haley replied in a harsh tone.

"With all due respect, Haley, I think my relationship with Aaron isn't any of your business, or anything that I need to discuss with you." She responded in the same tone.

"Actually it is, because it's affecting my son." Haley said in a defensive tone.

"What does Jack have to do with any of this?" Emily asked, with skepticism.

"Jack isn't happy with any of this, you being with Aaron upsets him very much." Haley half-snarled looking at her angrily.

"I'm not sure if I understand...Jack seems ecstatic every time he spends times with us." Emily responded, looking at her in disbelief.

"Well, I don't think he really has a choice, since Aaron forces him to do it, but he doesn't like you, he always comes home and says that." Haley spat.

"Okay, first Aaron does not force him to spend time with us, Jack is the one that insists on doing it, and second, Jack calls my personal phone cell more times than his father does; I'm pretty sure he wouldn't do that if he didn't like me, and third, I really don't know what you're trying to accomplish here, Haley, but I really have a lot of work to do, so, if you have nothing else, I need to get back to work." Emily said, getting angry.

"You do know you're only one more of his collection, right?" The blonde asked, maliciously.

"Excuse me?" Emily just glared at her.

"Aaron has an affair every year with a different woman at the office...once he gets tired of her, he picks another one." When Haley said that, she was looking at Emily in disgust.

"Is that really all you've got?" Emily asked, sardonically." You must be crazy if you think I'd believe that, or anything that comes out of your mouth."

"If you don't break up with him, I'll take Jack away from him. I'll move as far away as I can, and I'll make sure he never sees him again." Haley said, with venom in her voice. Emily wasn't expecting that, so, she was aghast looking at her.

"You can't do that, Haley, Aaron would be devastated; he has the right to see and spend time with his son, you just can't do that." Emily spat.

"Oh, I can and I will...just try me." She said, glaring at Emily.

"Why are you doing this, Haley." Emily asked with resentment.

"Because he doesn't belong with you, he belongs back with me, and I will make sure he sees that." The blonde said maliciously.

"If you think that by manipulating him, like you have done all your life, you'll get back his love, you are so wrong, Haley, no matter what you do, he'll never love you, or return to you." Emily said, glaring at her in disbelief.

Haley just laughed at her, "Trust me, Emily, I always get what I want." And then she turned around and opened the door. Looking back at Emily again and laughing at her evilly, she added,

"I'm sure you don't want Aaron to never see his son again because of you, right?" And with that, Haley left, leaving Emily speechless and terrified.

Emily spent the remainder of her day staring at her computer screen, she couldn't concentrate on work...her heart has aching and she was devastated. Aaron was everything she ever wanted in life, she loved him more than anything in life, and she had never been happier. But, she knew Haley wasn't kidding, she will take Jack away just to see him hurting, God, why the hell was she so evil? She had destroyed his life, and now that he was happy Haley was willing to destroy it again. Emily just couldn't let that happen to him. She also knew she couldn't tell him about Haley's visit. She had no choice but to do what Haley wanted, even though it will kill her. She would rather be hurting than have him hurting. Aaron had tried texting her a few times and calling her, but she ignored him...she just couldn't talk to him then.

Aaron and Rossi arrived at the bullpen around 6pm and everyone was still there. He quickly spotted Emily at her desk. Aaron had tried to get in contact with her, but she hadn't answered and he was worried. He smiled when he saw her, she was safe, so maybe her phone had died or something.

"Hey guys." Aaron said, stopping in front of the team.

"Hey Boss, how did you guys do?" Morgan asked, smiling at them.

"I'd rather not talk about it." Aaron responded, as Rossi just nodded and walked in his office. He placed his hand softly on Emily's back, and he felt her tense. "Hey there, are you all right?"

"I'm fine." Emily said, getting up from her desk and walking away without looking at him.

That surprised him, something was wrong with her, first the phone calls, he thought there was a logical explanation for that, but now watching her walk away like that confirmed his suspicions. Something was wrong, and he would find out what. After an hour and once Morgan and Reid had left, he stood on the cat walk and called her softly.

"Are your files ready, Em, can you bring them over, I need to talk to you."

"I'll be there in a minute." She said, without looking at him. A few minutes later, she walked into his office. Emily was already wearing her coat, and she had her purse with her. She stepped in without closing the door and placed the files on his desk.

"Here are the files, Aaron, I'm going to go home now, have a good night." Emily said, with her eyes on the files, and then she turned around to leave, but Aaron ran to her side and stopped her.

"Wait! What is going on with you?" Aaron asked, concern written across his face.

"Nothing, I'm just tired, that's all." She responded, picking at her nails, never once looking at him.

"Emily, you know you can't lie to me, what's the matter?" She hurt so much, she was sure she was going to explode...she had to do it, she had to for his good, exhaling and getting all the courage she could she spoke, looking away.

"I just don't think this is going to work anymore." She said, fighting the tears to stay at bay.

"What are you talking about, baby!?" He asked, confused and very concerned.

"Us, this isn't going to work, I want to end things." Her voice tempting to break. Aaron felt like someone just stabbed him in his heart, and his voice began cracking.

"What? Why? What's wrong, Emily?" He could barely speak.

"I just don't want to be with you anymore." Emily was fighting so hard not lose control.

"What are you talking about, Em, everything was fine this morning...what happened in a matter of hours?" His head was spinning badly.

"Nothing happened, I just realized I'm not happy, and I don't want this…I…just don't love you anymore." That was also a stab in her heart, she was about to break into little pieces...she never looked at him, not even once.

"I don't believe you, you're lying, something's happened, you didn't answer my calls, you can't even look me in the eyes." He cried.

"Look at me, Emily." Aaron commanded. "Look me in the eyes and tell me you don't love me."

"Please just stop and don't make this harder, I don't love you, and I don't want to be with you, please accept that!" Emily said, still not looking at him. She turned around and walked out of his office leaving Aaron aghast.

She willed the tears to stay until her eyes were burning, but once she stepped inside the elevator, her eyes betrayed her, her tears ejected themselves fast and heavy, and she began sobbing, her heart breaking into a million pieces.

Aaron stood there staring at the door where Emily had just walk through after breaking up with him, after telling him she didn't love him, and she didn't want to be with him. He couldn't understand what was wrong, what had happened; they were fine that morning, they even made love in the early morning before they left his house to go to work. He had gone to his conference and had not communicated with or seen her since the morning when he tried to call her and she didn't answer. What could have happen in that few hours, how could someone stop loving you in a matter of hours? Something was wrong...she was lying, and he knew it. She couldn't even look him in the eyes.


	6. Chapter 6

DOES TRUE LOVE REALLY CONQUER ALL (Repost)

CHAPTER 6

Okay Guys, this will be a long chapter, and as you know, it's a repost. I had to compact two chapters into one so the remaining story is no more than 10-12 chapters. Thank you so much for your reviews, and I hope you enjoy this repost as much as you did the first time around. Enjoy!

Hotch was sitting in his office, staring at the same file for over five hours. He had such a bad headache, but what was worse, so was his heart and everything else. Why did Emily break up with him? He couldn't find a logical reason...and all these thoughts kept running through his mind: that they were fine in the morning, they had made love almost all night the night before, they had talked about moving in together, they had made love again in the morning, and then they went to work. He was gone all day, and when he returned, she broke up with him. He knew she was lying when she said she didn't love him, and she had almost burst into tears. He had even been thinking about proposing soon, he was so in love with her. Emily was so different and yet the most wonderful thing that had ever happened to him. He had always been the strong one in the relationship with Haley, he couldn't be weak or break down, but with Emily he could cry, he could be weak and vulnerable, and she was always there to catch him. Emily got him to smile, to enjoy life, to enjoy even the smallest things, like watching movies in bed together eating popcorn. Emily always had the right words to make him feel better and motivate him. She was sweet, funny, passionate and was tender, yet she was feisty and had a fiery temper when necessary, and she wasn't afraid to put him in his place and say what she felt right to his face. Even intimacy with her was an adventure, he didn't have to be conservative and reserved like he did with Haley. She was sexually curious and adventurous, she showed him how to enjoy so many things in bed. One minute, she would be asking him to make slow, passionate, tender love to her and the next, she would be getting on her knees asking him to fuck her hard and fast from behind. She was every man's dream and was the love of his life. He couldn't understand what happened to make her end things, but he wasn't going to rest until he found out, he was determined not to lose her; Emily Prentiss was definitely not the woman you would let walk out of your life.

He was still sitting in his office, lost in thought, staring at files, when JJ walked in...it was definitely late at night.

"Hey Hotch, I didn't expect you to be here this late; these are the cases we had a request on. I wanted you to take a look before I made a decision." JJ said, placing a large pile of cases on his desk.

"Thanks, JJ, I'll look at them in the morning, you should go home." He said in a distant voice.

"Hotch, is everything all right? I mean, I'm not a profiler, but I can sense when my family isn't okay." JJ asked, somewhat worried. Hotch definitely looked like someone had just died.

"I'm okay." He mumbled, distantly.

"Hotch?" She said, sitting in front of him and looking at him. She didn't say it, but Hotch knew she cared, and she wanted to know what was wrong.

"Can I ask you a personal question?" He asked, suddenly looking at the liaison.

"Ummm, sure, what's up?" JJ smiled softly.

"Has Emily said anything to you about us, about something that was bothering her?"

" Hotch, I'm not sure if I'm following you?"

"Did she say anything about not being happy with me anymore, or wanting to end things?" He finally asked, looking away, trying not to show his sadness.

"Hotch, I really don't understand what you mean, Em is crazy about you, that's all she ever talks about." JJ said, still confused at her boss's questions.

"She broke up with me today, and I don't know why." He confessed, defeated.

"WHAT!?" JJ almost screamed. "Why? What happened?" Aaron just shrugged his shoulders and looked away absently.

"Wait, do you think this might have had something to do with Haley's visit?" JJ asked, concerned. Emily never realized that JJ had walked by the bullpen during Haley's visit to drop some documents off at Aaron's office; she had quickly glanced into the conference room and saw the two females talking. But, since Emily sometimes watched Jack, she just thought that her visit was related to Jack, so she didn't find it odd.

"What!?" Hotch said, standing up from his desk. "Haley was here today?" He snarled.

"Yeah, she was talking to Em in the conference room, I thought you knew." JJ said, also standing up and looking at Hotch with more concern.

"FUCK! DAMMIT!" He said quickly, grabbing his suitcase, his phone and keys and running out of his office. "Thanks, JJ." And Hotch ran out the door.

Hotch probably made it to Haley's house in less than ten minutes...getting out of his car, closing the door, and walking abruptly up the doorsteps of his ex-wife's house. He banged loudly at the door; Jessica came out in a robe and pajamas, it was almost midnight when he arrived there.

"Aaron, what's going on, you scared me?" Jessica said in a sleepy voice. But, Hotch walked past her without asking for permission to come in.

"Where the hell is she?" He growled. But, before Jess could respond, Haley was coming down the stairs also in a robe.

"What is wrong with you? Do you realize it's almost midnight?" Haley said, upset at the fact he had awakened them. Aaron did not care to respond to her, he met her on the steps face-to-face.

"What the fuck did you say to her?" Aaron spat, making Haley step back.

"I don't know, what ar..." Haley started, but she wasn't able to finish.

"Don't fucking play stupid, Haley, what did you say to Emily at work today?" Hotch was fuming, and his eyes where almost red.

"Look, I don't know what your slutty girlfriend told you but…."

"DON'T YOU DARE TALK ABOUT HER LIKE THAT!" Jessica was in shock looking at the scene...she had never seen Hotch that angry.

"Emily didn't say anything to me, people saw you at the BAU. Haley, are you really so stupid that you thought you would get away with this?" He looked at her furiously, but she couldn't respond, she was almost shaking.

"I have let you get away with so many things all your life and during our marriage. I let you manipulate me and get away with whatever you wanted, but not anymore, Haley. If you don't tell me what you said to her, I swear I'll tell our son the reason why we got divorced. He has always thought that it was my fault, and I let him believe that so he wouldn't lose respect for you, but if you don't tell me what in the hell you said when you went to see her, I will tell Jack how I found you in our bed with my best friend." He was looking at her with venom in his eyes.

Haley confessed everything she said to Emily, and when she was finished, both Hotch and Jessica were looking at her astonished.

"Oh my God, Haley, how could you do something like that?" Jess said, looking at her in disbelief. Jess had always liked Aaron even after they divorced. Jess knew it was Haley's fault, and she never got tired of telling Haley how stupid she was for letting him go.

"Stay away from Emily, I'm going to a lawyer and getting full custody of Jack." He spat in anger and resentment.

"What the hell did she give you that she has you so obsessed over her?" Haley asked, tears rolling down her face.

"Something you would never be capable of doing or understanding...true and unconditional love." And he walked out, slamming the door.

He drove as fast as he could to Emily's condo, hoping she hadn't gone somewhere else. When he arrived, he saw her car and quickly parked his truck next to her car, and ran to her apartment. He knocked on the door a few times with no response. He finally decided to use his key to her condo, and he opened the door quietly. The lights were off downstairs, but he saw her purse and phone on the cabinet. He went up the stairs quietly because he didn't want to scare her. Her bedroom door was ajar, and he could hear the soft sobs coming from inside the room. He opened the door carefully and saw Emily curled up on her bed with her face buried in the pillows, and she was sobbing. He walked to the bed and softly sat next to her, placing his hand on her back tenderly.

"Em…" He spoke softly. Emily was aware he was there when she heard the door opening.

"Please go way, Aaron, leave me alone." She mumbled.

"NO!" He said, rubbing her back gently.

"I told you that everything was over, I don't want you here, please go."

"Okay, if that's true, why are you crying then?" He asked, as he brushed a strand of hair behind her ear tenderly.

"I have a headache." She was still sobbing softly. Aaron smiled deeply. God, she was so cute and amazing.

"So, this has nothing to do with Haley's visit to you?" He asked, smiling at the brunette curled up fighting to hide her face from him.

"I don't know what are you talking about." God, how the hell did he always know everything.

"I'm just got back from Haley's house, Em...she told me everything." Aaron lay down and curled his body next to hers.

"Did you really think I was going to let you walk away from my life? And also, did you really think I would have let her just take my son away without fighting back?" He was rubbing her back and shushing her tenderly.

"Turn around and look at me, Baby, please." He demanded. Since Emily didn't comply, he softly turned her around to face him; her eyes were red and puffy, and her face was swollen, and soaked in tears. He grabbed her face in his hands and brought her eyes to look at him.

"What you did today was the most selfless and laudable act anyone has ever attempted for me, and I thank you so much for loving me and my son so much that you were willing to sacrifice what we have for us. I couldn't be luckier to have someone so amazing and wonderful in my life, I don't know what I ever did to deserve you, but I will thank God forever for putting you in my life."

He just hugged her and held her close, she started sobbing again and shaking in his arms. He just held her and rubbed her back. He felt his shirt getting wet with her tears, but he didn't care.

"I'm so sorry, Aaron, I'm so sorry." She kept sobbing. "I didn't know what to do, I was scared and I didn't want her to use Jack as a bait to blackmail you."

"SHHH, It's all right, sweetheart, she won't do anything else, I promise you. I'll do anything to protect you and Jack." They stayed in a tight embrace for a long time; after a while and once Emily had stopped crying, he got up and brought a warm wet towel to wipe her face and tear stains. He kissed her forehead and again brought her into his arms, and then softly, he captured her lips into a slow, passionate kiss. They kissed for a while until she pulled away and looked at his eyes.

"Aaron, make love to me."

"Anything you want, my darling."

He smile at her tenderly and started kissing her passionately. He slowly removed her sweater and began kissing her neck and collarbone, Emily removed his shirt in a hurry, suddenly her need to feel him was consuming her. They removed each other's clothes in between passionate kisses. When they were finally both naked, Hotch went in between her thighs to taste her, but Emily stopped him.

"Please, I want you now!"

Aaron lined himself at her entrance and kissed her as he entered her slowly. Their lips melted together, and she moaned in his mouth as he filled her. He started moving slowly and tenderly making eye contact and kissing her with love, passion and desire. They were making sweet passionate love, feeling every touch, every thrust, melting into one single soul.

"Ohhhhh…Aaron…" She moaned, closing her eyes for a moment.

"I love you." She said, opening her eyes to look at him.

"Say that again." He asked, not losing concentration on his slow pace and looking at her deeply.

"I love you." She whimpered, closing her eyes when he hit her g-spot.

"I think I need to hear it one more time." He felt his orgasm start growing, moving his hand in between them and rubbing her clit.

"I love you, I love you, I love you…ohhhhhh God!" She screamed as her climax hit her.

"I love you, too, Emily." He captured her mouth as he also came inside her in a rush.

A while after, he pulled out of her and pulled her in his arms, they didn't need more words, soon after that, he felt Emily relax and fall asleep in his arms. He just watched her, her face was still red and swollen from their love making and from crying all day. She had once again sacrificed something for him that meant a lot for her, he didn't need to think about it anymore. It was definitely time to go to that jewelry store and buy that "THING" he'd been thinking about buying for a while.


	7. Chapter 7

DOES TRUE LOVE REALLY CONQUER IT ALL?

Chapter 7

 **Okay guys, Chapter 7, this one is pretty cool, one of my favorite chapters of this story. Thanks for all the reviews and please be patient...don't forget this is a repost of my first story. Hope you enjoy all the fun with Hotch and Emily.**

It seemed impossible, but it was Christmas already, and the brunette couple was doing amazingly well despite all the trouble they had to face. They had moved in together a month ago, and everything seemed to be going better than ever. They spent Christmas Eve with the team at Rossi's home until about 10 that night, then they went to spend time with Hotch's parents. Jack had also been with them since it was Hotch's year to have him. They exchanged gifts with Jack Christmas morning, and the little boy was ecstatic to be with them and getting all his gifts. Emily had gone overboard with little Jack's presents, but she had so much fun shopping for him, she couldn't resist. Hotch made breakfast for them, and they had a great time together playing in the snow and enjoying the closeness that the holidays brought them. Around four o'clock, Hotch took Jack back to his mother's house, but he also needed to talk to her to settle a few things. He had promised Emily that when he was back home, the rest of Christmas was going to be only him and her. He parked outside of Haley's house and helped Jack out of his booster seat with all his presents, and they made their way to the main entrance. Jess greeted them at the door and helped them carry all the gifts to Jack's room, since Hotch said he needed to talk to Haley. Jess thought it would be a good thing to entertain Jack to give them some privacy. Hotch and Haley had not talked since the incident with Emily, so they had a few things to discus. Hotch was waiting in the living room by the fireplace when Haley came downstairs in a festive sweater and jeans.

"Hi, I'm sorry to keep you waiting, I was on the phone with my mom."

"It's all right, Merry Christmas, Haley." Hotch tried to remain formal with her, he wasn't sure how she was going to take what he was about to tell her.

"Merry Christmas to you, too...did you guys have a good time?"

"We did, my parents were overjoyed." They were both nervous; the last time they had said a word to each other. Hotch had threatened Haley with going to a lawyer and taking Jack away from her if she didn't stay away from Emily.

"I'm sure they did, they love him." They both stayed silent for a few minutes, and then Haley spoke again.

"Aaron, I'm sorry about what happened, I don't know what came over me, I don't want to deal with lawyers over Jack."

"Haley, I don't want that either, I want us to have a good relationship for Jack, and this is what I want to talk to you about." She nodded and led Hotch to sit on the sofa so they could talk.

"I'm going to ask Emily to marry me." That was like a slap to Haley's face...she wasn't expecting that, and she was astonished.

"I'm not sure why you don't like her, and I don't expect you to, but I'm in love with her, and I want you to understand that." He looked at her for a second, she was not happy about what she just heard, and he had a feeling this was going to end badly.

"Wow, I…don't …I don't even know what to say. Oh wow…"

"Haley, I..." He started, but she interrupted him.

"Why do you think this marriage is going to work and ours didn't?" Her voice was dry, and he could see her fighting her anger.

"Haley, I didn't know our marriage wasn't working until you…." He stopped, he didn't want to go there, in fact, he did know his marriage wasn't working, it had been broken for a while...long before she cheated on him.

"It was you who decided to end our marriage and be with someone else, and you had all the rights to do that, since I couldn't give you what you wanted." He said, looking at the fireplace instead of her.

"Why are you telling me this, Aaron, obviously you don't need my approval or permission."

"I am telling you this because you are the mother of my son, and we'll always have to share that, and also because Emily is going to be in my life now, and I want you to respect that and understand that." He finished looking at her again.

"I understand, of course." She said, getting up from the sofa. "Well, I'll let you go, I'm sure you have things to do."'

"Haley, you can always count on me for anything, you know that right?" He got up from the sofa, too.

"Yes, thank you. Have a good night, Aaron." She said, going up the stairs, without looking at him. He just watched her leave and turned to walk out the door. When he got in his car, he turned the ignition thinking she had taken things too well, surprisingly. He drove back to his new apartment; he and Emily had rented a nice condo just about 15 minutes from Quantico. It was snowing and it was cold outside, but it was a perfect white Christmas; they had an amazing time with his parents and the team. Jack and Emily also spent a lot of quality time together, he was so happy that he decided not to let Haley's odd reaction bother him. He parked his car in the underground garage and made his way to his apartment. He walked in and saw Emily finishing cleaning; he came around her and wrapped his arms around her from behind.

"I missed you." He said, placing soft kisses on her neck and shoulders.

"You were only gone an hour or so." She said, giggling and surrendering to his affection.

"I still miss you; I think I'm addicted to you." He said, turning her around in his arms and capturing her lips. They stayed there kissing in a tight embrace for a little while, and after that, they both changed into Christmas pajamas and cuddled together on the sofa with a bottle of wine to watch festive films. Emily didn't remember the last time she was so happy, they were living together and happy, they had an amazing Christmas probably the best Christmas of her life, and now she was watching happy movies cuddled in the arms of the man that owned her heart entirely.

"I had the most amazing Christmas of my life." She said, tightening Hotch's grasp on her. Hotch smiled deeply and kissed her forehead.

"I'm happy to hear that, although Christmas isn't entirety over yet." He said, tightening his arms around her as well.

"What do you mean?" She said, tilting her head to look at him.

"I have another present for you." He said, smiling and fully showing his dimples.

"What? No, you've already given me too many presents." She said, sitting up on the sofa.

"I know, but this is a special kind of present." He got up from the sofa and walked towards the Christmas tree; he bent down to pick up a small red box tied with a golden ribbon, returning to the sofa and placing the box in Emily's hand smiling at her.

"What is it?" She asked, looking at him curiously.

"Open it, Baby." She giggled and opened the gift with nervous hands, undoing the ribbons and opening the lid of the box. Inside, there was a small gold thread reel. She smiled and gave him a quizzical look...why in the world would she need a reel of gold thread? He smiled at her deeply, looking at the question in her eyes and took the reel of thread.

"Most of my life, I've followed all the rules, I became a prosecutor because my dad wanted me to, and I always did everything that people wanted me to do because I thought it was what I was supposed to do. I married Haley because that's what was expected of me, so I kept following the rules...through college, through all my life, at my work and even after that." He was looking at her deeply, she wasn't sure where this was going but she listened quietly, while he was playing with the thread in his hands, making a little knot.

"One day, I realized I was alone, I was divorced, and I was the most unhappy man in the world." Then he grabbed her left hand softly, "Then you came along, and you showed me so many beautiful things, you showed me how to live again, how to love, and how to enjoy life, and I started breaking all the rules, but I also realized I had never been happier in my life." He tied the thread on her ring finger of her left hand.

"You showed me that no matter what happens in life, you always have hope to hold on to, even if is by a thread, I let my marriage with Haley fall apart because I lost hope." He let the thread loose and lifted his hand a little, her finger still on the thread.

"Marriage is something you can't ever lose hope with, even when things are hard and you feel like giving up; you have to hang on to that decision, that choice to love each other. Even if it's only by a thread. I let that thread break once. This time, it won't." He lifted his hand further, and then from the thread he let **IT** slid down landing on her finger; it was a 3.0 carat princess cut diamond engagement ring. Emily was in shock...she couldn't speak or say anything, her heart started beating so fast, she thought it would explode.

"Oh my God, Aaron." She stammered.

"Emily Katherine Prentiss, will you marry me?" Emily felt warm tears sliding down her face, she couldn't believe this. But Aaron was now on his knees in front of her, looking at her waiting for an answer,

"Yes!" She wanted to say more but that was all she could muster. She threw her arms around him, and started crying softly in his arms, although these were different tears. They were tears of happiness and joy.

"Oh my God, Aaron, I'm speechless, I don't even know what to say." She murmured softly against his neck still crying.

"You already said what I needed you to say, nothing else matters" He said, pulling her closer to him. After a while they pulled away, Emily still had teary eyes, and he gently wiped them with his thumb.

"I love you so much, you mean everything to me." Aaron said, kissing her lips.

"I love you, too, Aaron, more than anything in life."

They made love on the sofa showing their strong love for each other. they spent the rest of the night talking about their future, making love on the sofa, and spending the most amazing Christmas neither of them had ever experienced. They thought that they had finally conquered it all, unfortunately, the couple was oblivious to the fact that the hardest challenge for their relationship was just about to come, and this time they might not be able to fight it so easily.


	8. Chapter 8

DOES TRUE LOVE REALLY CONQUER IT ALL?

Chapter 8

Okay Guys, Chapter 8 is here, and of course, now that they are engaged and happy, Emily knew it was too good to be true...the real trouble for the couple just began, and she wasn't sure where this trouble was going to end.

The next couple of months went flying by; what should have been the best months for the recently-engaged couple turned out to be the most stressful and complicated. A few weeks after Aaron proposed to Emily, he found out that Haley had terminal lymphoma cancer. Apparently, she had been sick for a while, and she hadn't told anyone because she wanted to get better; however, her doctors recently informed her she has now in Stage 4 of her cancer, and she had very little time to live. The entire world stopped around everyone, Aaron was really affected and devastated by the news; although he had a lot of issues with Haley, she had been his wife for more than a decade, and she was the mother of his son.

Haley was, of course, a disaster...she was always crying, and she started spiraling down in depression. Emily had been supportive with Aaron. She wanted to be there for him, she always had, but she couldn't help but think there was something very odd about Haley's recent terminal illness. However, she supported him as much as she could. She knew Aaron had promise Haley he would be there for her every moment. She was fine with that because she knew that Haley was probably terrified, and she was also alone; however, things started to irritate Emily when it became an almost every single night that Haley called Aaron to come see her with different excuses. She tried to understand, but when Aaron came home every night at almost midnight, and they hardly ever had a moment alone, she wasn't happy anymore. She didn't want to be selfish, but it wasn't really Aaron's job to be there for her 24/7...she had a sister who mysteriously had stopped talking to Haley and wanted nothing to do with her even though she was sick. Emily and Aaron started arguing a lot over Haley's illness, and all Aaron did was spend every single moment he had free with his ex-wife.

They had more arguments in the past few weeks than ever, but things got really bad when he was supposed to meet Emily and her mother for dinner to talk about their future wedding plans. Aaron wasn't able to make it to meet Emily because his ex-wife had another breakdown, and she couldn't stop crying and scaring Jack. He walked in his apartment knowing that he was really in trouble, and he had to make things up to Emily. The apartment was dark, and he made his way upstairs. He opened the bedroom door, and Emily was in bed already with her back to the door, but, he knew she wasn't sleeping. He quickly undressed and put his pajamas on; he got in the bed and moved closer to her, wrapping his arm around her and pulling her to him.

"I am so sorry, Em, I wanted to be there, but Haley is in worse shape than ever." Emily extracted herself from his embrace and didn't respond to him.

"Baby, please, don't be like that." He begged.

"Don't be like what, Aaron?" I'm the bad guy here? You knew how important this dinner was for me, and you didn't give a dam, you humiliated me in front of my mother by not showing up, you know how my mother is, Aaron, and you still didn't care." Emily spat, tears running down her face.

"I did care, Emily, of course, I care, please just understand this." He tried to touch her arm softly but she moved away.

"I'm tired of understanding, Aaron; please leave me alone, I'm not in the mood to argue with you tonight, just leave me alone, please."

"Baby, please?"

"I'm going to go sleep in the guest room if you don't leave me alone and respect that I don't wish to continue with this tonight, please just stop."

Aaron knew better than to argue with her, she was beyond mad and if he kept pushing, things were going to end badly. He turned around on his side and tried to sleep, but he couldn't...he was so tired and he didn't know what to do...he knew this was upsetting his fiancé very much, but he couldn't leave Haley alone when she needed him the most.

Over the next few weeks, they had several cases at work which made things even worse, they hardly talked anymore. They both slept with their backs to each other, and Haley was getting worse every day. Aaron felt like his entire world was collapsing all around him. Emily hadn't forgiven him for missing dinner with her mother, and she hardly spoke to him. She didn't even care about the time he spent with Haley anymore, and that was making him more worried and sad. He had promised Emily he would visit Haley less and would give her and their relationship more attention, but it seemed that Haley needed more attention every day, and he wasn't able to keep his promise.

Emily was sitting on the closed toilet in her bathroom, tears sliding down her face, she wanted to scream in rage and anger, but she couldn't. This was supposed to be the happiest day of her life and the best news in the world, but they weren't. She sat there crying holding the white plastic stick that had just turned positive. She had been feeling weird lately, and she was exhausted all the time, but she had convinced herself that it was just anxiety for all the problems she and Aaron were having. It wasn't until that morning when she had made coffee and she ended up in the bathroom throwing up that she suspected there was something else. This was the 6th pregnancy test she took, and they had all been positive. A few months back, this would have been the best news of her life, but today, she sat there crying...things weren't okay with Aaron and her, in fact, they had never been worse. She had managed to convince herself that Aaron was not only going to Haley's house to comfort her, when his clothes started smelling like her perfume she was sure that he was cheating on her. She didn't want to say anything because she was hoping things will get better, but they hadn't, she had also considered moving out and ending things with him, but she was so in love with him she wasn't sure she could recover from that. After crying for what seemed like hours, she decided she needed to talk to Aaron and give him a chance to work things through...maybe a baby would make Aaron realize how much he was messing things up with her and things would change. She texted Aaron and told him that she wanted to repair things, and there was something she needed to tell him. He promised her he would be home as soon as he could, and he also told her he wanted to talk, too; he said he loved her more than anything, and he wanted to work things out. Unfortunately, Haley called Aaron again with one of her attempts of suicide, and Aaron ended up running to see her.

Emily was furious...he had promised her he would be home soon, and it was almost eleven and he wasn't home yet. She had called both of his phones, his cellphone and his work phone, and they both went straight to voicemail. She ended up calling the BAU, only to find out from Garcia that Aaron had left at 8pm, and he wasn't at the BAU. She sat on the couch crying for the thousandth time that month...how could he promise her he woud do something, and turn around and stand her up again like he had been doing almost every time for the last couple of months.

It wasn't until midnight when Aaron got home. He knew he was going to be in big trouble, and he didn't want to fight again with Emily, but he couldn't have just not gone to see Haley when she was threatening to take her life. He opened the door to his apartment to find his fiancé sitting on the sofa...she had evidently been crying a lot and she was fuming.

"Where in the hell were you? It's fucking midnight, and you told me you would be home early." She snarled when he walked into the living room.

"I was at work...I got caught up in paperwork and I lost track of time." Aaron wasn't sure why he did it but he did, it was the first thing that popped out of his mouth in an attempt to calm the raging mad brunette. It was a white lie, but he wasn't aware he had just fucked up really badly.

"Do you really think I'm fucking stupid, Aaron?" She screamed, getting up from the sofa. "I called you at work, and Garcia told me you were gone at eight." She was fuming.

"You fucking went to see her, didn't you?" Emily was so mad she was shaking.

"Em, I'm sorry…I..." He stammered.

"Don't! Don't fucking say a word to me, Aaron, I will not believe you anyway, you just fucking lied to my face." She screamed, crying.

"Emily, calm down, please… I'm sorry." He tried to grab her, but she pushed him away.

"Go back to her, Aaron! I don't give a damn anymore, I don't want you in my bed, or my house, just get the hell out of here!" She ran to the bedroom and locked herself in. Aaron tried to go after her, but she had locked the bedroom door behind her, and she didn't respond to him for the entire time he was talking to her through the closed door.

He finally gave up and went to sleep in the guest room; he had fucked things up really badly. He had lied to her in an attempt to smooth things over. and she had caught him lying...he didn't know what else to do...his ex-wife was about to die, his fiancé was blatantly furious at him and now he was sure she would never forgive him. On the top of all that, his best friend Rossi wasn't talking to him either. They had gotten into a fight a week ago when Rossi insinuated that Haley was making the entire thing up about her illness to break them apart. He was so mad at Rossi for even thinking that, he said horrible things to him and cursed at him; the older profiler just walked out of his office and never said another word to him after that.

Emily just lay on her bed crying uncontrollably, she was one hundred percent sure now that Aaron was cheating on her...he had lied to her, he had never lied to her before and now he had. She knew it was too good to be true, and the worst part was she was pregnant with his baby and she wasn't going to tell him now that her suspicions about his affair were confirmed. She cried while she placed her hand on her still flat stomach, she couldn't even tell the man she loved she was pregnant because she wasn't sure he wanted the baby or anything with her any longer.


	9. Chapter 9

DOES TRUE LOVE REALLY CONQUER IT ALL?

Chapter 9

 **Ok guys, Chapter Nine is here...thank you so much for all the reviews and following the story. These are the last few chapters...I managed to make the story in eleven chapters, making the eleventh the final and big one. Thanks you all for your support**.

Aaron woke up around 4 am on a Tuesday morning; he hardly ever slept anymore, and when he did, the only thing in his dreams was Emily. He had been sleeping in the guest room for over a week, and Emily had not said a single word to him since their fight. He had tried everything, apologizing in every possible way, but nothing had worked so far. She didn't respond to his calls or messages, he came home every night to find her locked in their bedroom; he would knock every night and talk to her through the closed door, but she just didn't respond. In the mornings, Emily had already left the apartment by the time he was up...it was like she avoided him all the time. At work it was the same, she would not talk to him, and she avoided being around him as much as she could, always professional of course, but it was like he had stopped existing for her. He knew she was mad and she had all the rights to be...he had lied to her and stood her up endless times to go help his ill ex-wife. He never meant to hurt her, he was at his wit's end. He wanted to help his ex-wife, not because he felt anything for her, but because he felt guilty and wanted to make her last months of life better. He had tried so hard to make things right with Emily but she didn't care anymore. He wasn't sure how many nights he cried, for the fear of Haley dying and for the fear of losing Emily, the only woman who had lit up his world. He quickly got up and dressed in pants and a sweatshirt; he left the apartment and went to the only 24hrs store he could find. He was hoping this last attempt would work with Emily. He bought all the flowers he could find at the store, and he also bought the biggest vase he found to fit all the flowers in. He returned home and put all the flowers in the vase, arranging them and making them look like the biggest flower bouquet he had ever seen. and placed them on the counter, then he grabbed his briefcase and pulled out an envelope that had a letter he had written for her the night before. He placed the letter next to the flowers and went to shower to go to work.

Emily woke up around 7 am and quickly showered and dressed to go to the doctor's appointment to check on the baby. She checked her reflection in the mirror once again. She looked very pale and had bags under her eyes, from lack of sleep and from crying every night until almost sunrise for the past week. She applied more concealer and made her way out of the bathroom. She grabbed her coat and purse from the bed and left the room to leave the house. When she was in the living room, she saw the huge flower arrangement sitting on the kitchen counter. She wanted to ignore it but for the first time in that week, Aaron surprised her. She walked over to the counter and saw the white envelope. She considered a few minutes whether to open it or not, but as mad as she was with him, she did care. She opened the envelope and unfolded the letter that was written with his hand.

Emily:

I wish there was a way to tell you how sorry I am for the pain I've caused you, and I wish you could forgive me, I know I made a mistake, and I should have never lied to you. To be honest, I don't even know why I did it, I know I didn't want to fight with you anymore, I didn't want to hurt you, I know how upset this has made you. I never meant to forget about you baby, I wish you could understand that, YOU are the only one that lives in my heart, I love you so much more than words can express, it's killing me not to sleep with you , not to hold you in my arms at night. I wanted to be there for Haley because I don't want Jack to think that the last months of his mother's life, she spent them alone, and I didn't care. I never wanted to hurt you with any of this, for the first time in my life I feel like giving up, I don't know what to do, my entire world is crumbling in my hands, and I can't do anything about it. The only person in this world that understands me, lights up my life and knows what to say, and how to make me feel better, won't talk to me. I love you so much, I'm very sorry for everything. I just wish you could give me a chance to make things right. I need you, Em…more than ever...please forgive me.

Aaron.

Emily finished reading the letter, and she felt warm tears running down her face, she wanted to be there for him, but she was hurting too. But she also had to consider the baby that was growing inside her now. She put the letter in her purse and decided to talk and give him a chance. She grabbed her phone and sent him a text.

"I read your letter, I love you, too, Aaron, but we need to talk. I don't know what to think or believe anymore. We will talk tonight if you can make it home at a decent hour." She placed her phone back in her purse and left her apartment with tears still sliding down her face. She had a doctor's appointment to go before going to Quantico.

Rossi had been sitting in his office, staring at the fax machine; he had been waiting for these papers all morning. As mad as he was with Aaron for the way he had treated him, he knew he was hurting. He knew that Emily was hurting as well, they were his friends and true friends helped each other in good times and bad times. He knew Haley had made the whole illness up, and he knew she was just trying to break them apart, but he had to prove it, or his stupid friend would never believe it. He had secretly asked an old friend of his who was a private investigator to spy on Haley, and to find out everything he could about her supposed cancer. His friend told him he would send him everything he got this morning, and now Dave was anxiously waiting at the front of the fax machine. When the machine beeped, he ran and grabbed the papers abruptly, going through them as fast as he could. Just as he had suspected, Haley wasn't sick, she had no record of any oncologist visits, or any other medical issues, the only thing on her record was a doctor's appointment last year and it was related to a cold.

"I knew it! That fucking bitch!" He snarled angrily. He placed the files in a folder making them look like a case; he walked out of his office and cautiously made his way to his friend's office without drawing attention. He knocked at Aaron's door and opened the door without waiting for a response; he walked in and saw that his friend was submerged in a case file.

"Sorry to bother you, I know I'm probably the last person you want to see right now, but I need to talk to you." He said, sitting in the chair across from Aaron's desk. The Unit Chief was surprised to see David in his office...they had not said a word to each other in almost three weeks.

"What can I do for you, David?" He asked politely.

"You know, Aaron, although you think I am a selfish, egocentric bastard, I care about you." Aaron was in shock. He had only said that in a moment of anger...he didn't feel like that at all. He just looked at him, he didn't know what to say.

"You're probably going to be mad at me for doing this, but I just couldn't watch my two best friends relationship fall apart, so I hired a private investigator to spy on Haley." He stopped, looking at Aaron's facial reactions. Aaron stood up, astonished.

"You did what!?" He asked in disbelief. Rossi stood up, as well; he threw the file at his friend's desk, right in front of him.

"She's not sick, there's no cancer, she made the entire thing up, just as I told you she did." And with that, Rossi walked outside his office, leaving Aaron aghast.

Aaron picked up the file going through it frantically. His heart started beating fast, and he felt hot blood running through his veins. He threw the file against the wall and banged his fist on his desk in anger. How could Haley have done something like that? To lie about something so serious, he was about to lose Emily, and it was all a lie, from the woman that had manipulated him all his life. How could he have been so stupid to believe in her? He should have listened to Emily. He texted Haley telling her he had found out everything, and her game was over. He then texted Emily and told her that everything was going to end today, and that something had just come up, he told her that when she was back from running her errands, they would both take the day off and talk. He sat at his desk just thinking what an idiot he had been for the past few months; he had hurt the woman he was madly in love with because he thought Haley was on her deathbed. It was all a lie, no matter what he had to do, he would repair everything with Emily, but to his bad luck, Haley was plotting something else already.

Haley walked in the BAU about an hour later...she had received Aaron's text and she made her way to his office and walked in without knocking. When Aaron saw her, he wanted to kill her right there.

"What the hell are you doing here!? I don't want to see you ever again. How could you lie about something like that, Haley? How could you lie and manipulate me and your son?"- He was shaking and he was trying very hard to control himself from exploding.

"Aaron, I know you are mad, please let me explain." She said in a low voice.

"EXPLAIN WHAT, HALEY? THAT YOU LIED ABOUT BEING SICK AND MADE ME AND YOUR SON BELIEVE YOU WERE DYING, WHAT IN THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?" He was screaming now, he was so mad that he never realized the door of his office was open, and Emily had just walked into the BAU, making her way to his office. But, Haley did notice the brunette walking in their direction. Without thinking twice about it, she ran toward Aaron and wrapped her arms around his neck, crashing her mouth on Aaron's mouth making it look like they were kissing. It only lasted a few seconds before Aaron pushed her away from him in rage, but that had been enough. Emily had seen the entire thing. She turned around and ran toward the doors.

"What in fuck is wrong with you? Are you out of your mind?" He spat, fuming. But Haley wasn't paying attention to him, her eyes were now on the brunette that had just run in the opposite direction. Aaron's eyes went in that direction, and he felt his stomach tighten in knots.

"Oh God, NO!" He ran after Emily, too, he didn't know what she saw, but he had to stop her.

"Emily! Emily, wait!" But, by then, she had already gotten in the elevators. Aaron ran toward the stairs, taking them two or three at a time, running as fast as he could to catch Emily outside the elevators. He jumped when he was on the first floor and ran toward the elevators. He spotted Emily running to the parking lot and chased after her.

"Emily, stop, please let me explain, it's not what you think." He said, when he caught up with her; she stopped in the middle on the parking lot and turned around. She slapped him across the face as hard as she could.

"YOU HAVE NOTHING TO EXPLAIN, AFTER I SAW YOU KISSING HER!" Emily was crying and screaming. "YOU DIDN'T EVEN HAVE ANY RESPECT FOR ME, YOU BROUGHT HER, HERE! WHERE I FUCKING WORK! I FUCKING HATE YOU! Her face was livid.

"Emily, it's not what you think." He tried to explain, but she slapped him again.

"GO TO HELL, AARON! YOU KNOW WHAT, AFTER ALL, YOU ARE PERFECT FOR EACH OTHER! YOU ARE JUST AS VILE AS SHE IS." She pulled off her engagement ring and threw it at him on the floor of the parking garage.

I DON'T WANT TO EVER SEE YOU AGAIN IN MY LIFE, DO YOU HEAR ME? EVER! She ran to her car and got in, she drove off squealing tires.

Aaron watched her drive off, everything was over, she would never forgive him, he bent down to pick up her engagement ring and felt tears sliding down his face.


	10. Chapter 10

DOES TRUE LOVE REALLY CONQUER IT ALL?

Chapter 10

Hotch walked inside the BAU; he was devastated, and he had to control himself because his first instinct was to walk back into his office and kill Haley. She was still waiting inside his office when he came back. He abruptly walked in.

"You have five seconds to get the hell out my office and this building, before I call security and have them escort you out." He was boiling, and his eyes were red and fiery.

"Aaron, I…" Haley tried to speak, but Hotch just went off on her.

"You disgust me! I have no idea what I ever saw in you, and how could I have possibly married someone like you. But one thing I can assure you right now...I will not rest until I get her back. I will not let you destroy this, my love for her is so strong that I will move the entire world to get her back. And when I do, I will move away with her and Jack."

"GET OUT NOW! I WILL TAKE JACK AWAY FROM YOU, AND I SWEAR I WILL MAKE SURE YOU ARE NEVER ALLOWED AROUND ME, JACK OR EMILY!" His eyes piercing on hers. Haley stepped back, she was so afraid of him she was shaking. She had never seen him like this.

"GET OUT OF MY OFFICE, AND MY LIFE! GET THE FUCK OUT!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. Haley disappeared in an instant. She had never seen Aaron this mad, and she was afraid of what he would do next.

Rossi came to his office when he heard the screams. He saw Haley running towards the exit door, Rossi walked into Aaron's office and saw the Unit Chief kneeling down on the floor crying. He quickly ran towards Aaron and helped him up.

"She kissed me Dave and Emily saw everything, she left me…I can't..." He started sobbing. Dave was astonished and very touched. He had never seen his friend, the stoic, emotionless Unit Chief breakdown like this.

"We'll get her back, Aaron, you mark my words." He hugged his friend, "I'll help you, even if we have to go to the end of the world to get her, we'll get her back."

Once Hotch had calmed down, he told Dave everything that happen, he told him everything that had been going on since he found about Haley's faked illness. Dave was so mad that he was almost happy Haley had run before he could get there, because he was sure he would have murdered the bitch with his own hands. They spent the rest of the day trying to find Emily, they went to their apartment, and she wasn't there, in fact, Emily had taken her clothes and the drawers were empty. They went to every single place where they could possibly think Emily could be. It was almost midnight when they finally arrived to see the only person that could help them and tell them where she was. When Jason opened the door, Dave had to step in the middle and hold him back, because he had launched into Aaron to beat him up. Once he had gotten Jason to calm down and briefly explained what happened, they walked into his living room and sat down to talk. Aaron and Rossi explained to Jason the details of what was going on. Aaron was almost crying again, and he begged Jason to help him and tell him where Emily was. Gideon knew deep inside he wasn't lying, and he truly loved Emily; he knew his daughter's happiness was with Aaron. He told Hotch he would tell him where she was if he promised he would go home and rest for tonight, and only once he was calm and rested would he go see her. Hotch agreed. He knew it had been a long day, and it would be better for everyone to let things cool down. Jason told him Emily was at his cabin in the woods. He gave Hotch the extra set of keys and told him if he didn't make things right this time, he would personally kill him.

The following morning, Aaron woke up and quickly showered and got ready. He got in his truck and drove to Jason's cabin, spending the entire drive there thinking what he was going to tell her, and how he was going to make this work. He wasn't sure, but he wasn't going to return until she forgave him, no matter how long that would take.

He parked outside the cabin; he didn't knock, and he knew Emily would not open the door for him which was probably the reason why Jason gave him the keys. He opened the door quietly and walked in; he looked around for Emily, but he couldn't find her anywhere, even though he went to every single room in the house. He finally went to the sliding glass door that lead to the back patio. He saw Emily sitting on the little couches that were around the fireplace on the patio. He opened the door carefully...he didn't want to scare the hell out of her, and slowly walked towards her stopping a few feet away from her.

Emily knew it was him when she heard the sliding glass door open, not that she was expecting him, but she knew sooner or later, he would come to find her.

"I thought I made it pretty clear that I didn't want to see you ever again in my life." Her voice sounded tired and raspy. He walked around the couches and stepped in front of her, a few feet away, but in front of her.

"What you saw yesterday isn't what you think...she kissed me, she did it purposely, she is not sick, Em, she never was, and she did all of this to separate us." He said slowly, trying to maintain a distance when he wasn't sure how she was going to react yet.

"You think I don't know that, I knew all the time she was lying." Fresh tears rolled down her eyes.

"Then you have to know what you saw yesterday, it was her and not me, you have to believe me, Emily, I would never cheat on you, I would never do that to you, please, you have to believe me." He begged, but she just shook her head "no", more tears rolling down. He took all the courage he had, and he knelt in front of her.

"Baby, please forgive me! I know I hurt you. I just thought that…" He took a deep breath and explained all his reasons.

"I thought that by being there for her during her illness, I would make up for failing her in our marriage, I wanted her last months to be nice she would remember. I didn't know she was lying, Em. I'm sorry for putting you aside and hurting you, please forgive me, please, I can't live without you." He was crying now, he grabbed her hands softly, but she pulled them away.

"I can't do this anymore, Aaron, I am done, please leave." She said, looking away from him.

"Em, please forgive me, I'm begging you, I'll do anything you want...just tell me what you want and I'll do it, please, please…." He also had tears rolling down his face, he couldn't give up, he would be on his knees all day long, if he had to, but he wasn't going to give up, after begging her for forgiveness for what seemed like hours, Emily kept shaking her head no. He got up having one last idea...he was hoping this would work, because if it didn't, he wasn't sure what else he was going to do. He stepped back a little bit.

"Okay, Emily, if that's what you want, I'll respect that, I can't make you be with me if you don't want to." He said, praying to God this would work...it was his last chance.

"But, I'm not going to stay in the same state as you watching my life fall apart and the most amazing and beautiful woman walk away from my life." He began stepping away from her slowly.

"I'll go back to the BAU today, and I'll ask for a transfer overseas; I promise you that I'll never bother you again in my life. I'll send someone to get my stuff out of the apartment." That got Emily's attention.

"Just know that I love you more than anything in life and I always will, I will disappear from Washington today, and you will never have to see me again, I promise you." He turned around, hoping he hadn't just fucked up worse and begging God to help him make this work. Emily analyzed what he said for a second, then without thinking twice, she got up.

"Aaron…wait…" She said, her voice tempting to break.

"Don't leave,…I…I…" She had to say it, she couldn't hold it anymore. "You can't leave…I…I'm pregnant." She broke down completely and started sobbing. Aaron ran to her and caught her in his arms. He clung to her, holding her close, while she broke down and cried uncontrollably.

"Oh my God, Emily...WHAT?" He said, excitedly, holding her to him as tight as he could.

"Please don't leave, don't leave me." She begged, hiccupping.

"I'm not going to leave you, I'm so sorry I said that, I had to say something to get through to you. I'll never leave you, you're my life!" He said, trying to calm her down and shush her tenderly.

They stayed in a tight embrace, crying in each other's arms and letting the storm pass. When Emily had calmed down and stopped crying, he lifted her up in his arms and brought her inside the house. He placed her softly in the living room, and lit the fire in the fireplace to warm the house up. He went to the sink and grabbed a towel; he opened the hot water and wet the towel on it, then came back to the sofa and wiped her face tenderly. When he was finished, he placed the towel on the coffee table and pulled Emily close to him.

"When did you find out, and how far along are you?" He asked, looking at her softly.

"I found out about a month ago, I should be almost three months by now. I went to the doctor yesterday." A few fresh tears rolled down her cheeks, "I wanted to tell you, but with everything that was going on, I was scared you were going to leave me." He hugged her tightly again.

"God, Em, I'm so sorry for everything. I'll never leave, you're the reason why I live everyday." He got up from the sofa again and knelt in front of her for the second time that day.

"Please, please, forgive me for everything, you have no idea how happy you just made me with this news." He said tenderly, placing his hand on her stomach.

"Give me a chance to fix this, and I promise that I will spend the rest of my life making it up to you, I'll quit the BAU and we'll move with Jack away from Haley, we'll go wherever you want to go, I'll do whatever you want. I swear to you, Em, that I'll do whatever you say, please forgive me." He was crying again, and Emily, too, had tears rolling down her face.

Emily pulled him up making him stand and sit next to her.

"I want this, I want to be with you, but we have to work on this together…we have to repair all of this together Aaron, that's what a relationship is about. I want Haley completely gone from our lives, all right?" She said in a very, very serious tone. He nodded and pulled her to his arms again. Then he placed a soft kiss on her lips, then it turned a little passionate. He pulled away and looked at her smiling for the first time in a few months.

"We're having a baby?" He said, realizing for the first time, he had not reacted yet to the news.

"We are!" She said, smiling at how long it took him to react.

"I'm going to fix everything, I promise you, I want to get married soon, maybe tomorrow and buy a house and things for the baby, and wait…She's going to need a room, and a crib, and toys and a stroller…and…and." But, Emily stopped him, giggling.

"She? Do you know something I don't?" She said, raising her eyebrows and smiling.

"Yes! SHE! Is going to be a girl and is going to be just as beautiful as her mother, and I'm going to protect her and kill whomever comes near her with my gun." He said, getting upset for a second, thinking about his unborn daughter, and the fact that he was going to have to watch after her like a maniac. Emily laughed and grabbed his face in her hands.

"Honey, please don't get your blood pressure up, she's not even born yet, and we don't even know yet she is a SHE"

Hotch pulled her close to him again, he was happy, he had gotten one last chance with her, and he wasn't going to mess this one up. He had something planned, and he would do whatever it took to make it right for her.

Okay Guys, the next chapter is the final chapter, and the best one of all. Thank you all again for the reviews. Drop in again when I write my next story.


	11. Chapter 11

DOES TRUE LOVE REALLY CONQUER IT ALL?

 **Final Chapter**

 **Okay Guys, Final Chapter is here! Thank you so much for all your reviews and for keeping up with the story. I hope you liked it! Reviews are more than welcome.**

Emily was in front of the full length mirror, where she was checking her reflection. She couldn't believe she was finally here. She smoothed her dress one more time and checked her hair. She was wearing a long strapless old ivory satin wedding dress, smoothly-fitted at the top and front, but caught up in the back with tiny pleats that cascaded out into a train covered with seed pearls and beading in a floral design. Her hair was up in curls with a few soft curls loose around her shoulders. She had minimal makeup on, just enough to compliment the ivory of her gown, and the "girls" had given her a blue garter, and her mother had given her an old ivory lace handkerchief of her great-grandmother's that she had preserved just for this day for Emily to carry somewhere as she walked down the aisle. Her mother and JJ and Penelope had just left her room, and Emily picked up her bouquet to get the scent of it again. It was made up of ivory roses, pale yellow calla lilies, cream peonies and pale orange calla lilies with complimentary berries and greenery. Emily used her great-grandmother's ivory lace handkerchief, which was rather large, to wrap around her bouquet so it would also cascade down her Mother's ivory Bible which she would also carry down the aisle.

She was so nervous she was shaking; after all the trouble they had to conquer, her dream was about to come true. A soft knock on the door brought her back from her thoughts. She told whomever was behind the door to come in. Jason walked in the room, wearing a very elegant black tuxedo.

"Hello there, you look amazing." She said, smiling widely...she had never seen Jason that dressed up.

"If I look amazing, you look beyond stunning." He said, admiring the beautiful brunette in her dress. "WOW! Em, you look beautiful, like a real princess." He said, coming forward into the room closer to Emily.

"Thank you so much. I am so nervous I can't stop shaking." She said, twisting her hands.

"You'll be fine." Jason said, smiling gently at her.

"I wanted to see you before we go down...I have something for you." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small velvet box. He placed the box in her hands, Emily smiled and opened the box softly. Inside, there was a beautiful delicate gold chain with a single diamond pendant in the shape of a teardrop. Emily wasn't sure, but by the size of it, it looked like it was at least six carats and perfectly cut as it sparkled all over the room. Emily gasped and looked at him, astonished.

"This belonged to my great-grandmother, and she passed it over to my grandmother and my mother on their wedding day, until my wife was the last one wearing it. We never really had a daughter, so I want you to have it." He said, looking at her intensely.

"Oh my God, Jason, No, I can't, this belongs to your family, I can't take it!" She said, stammering.

"Emily, YOU are my family, you might not be my biological daughter, but you are MY DAUGHTER." He said, smiling at her deeply. He took the necklace from her hands and walked behind her, placing the necklace around her neck softly and locking it.

"I remember when I first meet you, you were 4 years old and you used to impress me with how smart you were. I watched you grow up and go to college; I watched you become a successful and beautiful woman. And today, I will have the privilege and joy of walking you down the aisle and watch you marry the man of your dreams. I'm so proud of everything you have become, Em. I couldn't be luckier to have you as my daughter, I love you." Jason smiled at her and wiped the tears from her eyes that were now rolling down her face.

"Oh Jason, I love you so much, I have no words to thank you for everything you've done and what you mean in my life." She pulled him into a hug and let more tears roll down her face. He hugged her tight, too, then, he pulled away and once again, he wiped her tears.

"Are you ready?" He asked, Emily nodded, and he took her hand to lead her outside.

They were at Rossi's mansion, and they walked down the stairs together; the entire house was decorated in pearl white and gray decorations. There were a lot of people around the house from the catering service Rossi had hired. They walked outside the house, and Emily gasped for the hundredth time that night. There were several tables around the garden that were all nicely decorated and set up. The entire garden was lit up with hanging lights and lanterns. There was also a wooden dance floor in the garden on the other side of the tables next to the fountains that were also lit up. The lake was full of floating candles and flowers, and next to the lake, there was a gazebo, where Hotch and the priest were awaiting, and all her friends and family were sitting in the chairs in front of the gazebo waiting for her, too.

Emily felt new tears sliding down her face. Rossi and Jason must have spent a fortune setting all that up for them. The way from the house to where Aaron was standing was covered in white rose petals, and when everyone saw Emily, they quickly stood up. Rossi smiled and signaled the orchestra to get ready. Once everyone was ready, Jason signaled Rossi that they were ready, and once again, Rossi signaled the orchestra, and they began playing the wedding march.

Emily and Jason began walking down the aisle, and Emily started shaking involuntarily...she quickly made a movie on her mind, of all the trouble they had to face, how much they had struggled to be together. They were finally there; she was about four months pregnant, and she was starting to show a little, and she never thought this day would come. When they arrived at the end of the aisle, Jason turned around and kissed her forehead and her cheek.

He smiled and nodded at Aaron. Aaron was wearing a very nice gray tuxedo, and he looked so handsome, Emily felt herself blushing. He stepped forward and gently took her hand, pulling her close to him and the priest.

"Oh my God, you are taking my breath away." He smiled, showing his dimples deeply...Emily just smiled; she had finally lost her voice and couldn't utter a single word.

The ceremony started, and the priest talked about marriage for a while and finally proceeded to the rest of the ceremony. He finally called for the rings and Jack proudly came over, wearing a gray suit matching his dad's and holding the rings on a white cushion. Emily bent down to place a kiss on the little boy's head...she was crying again.

The priest blessed the rings, and the spoke to the couple...

"Aaron Hotchner, do you take Emily Katherine Prentiss as your lawful wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and cherish until death do you part?"

"I do." He said, holding her hand and looking at her intensely.

"Emily Katherine Prentiss, do you take Aaron Hotchner as your lawful husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and cherish until death do you part?"

"I do." She couldn't stop the tears from rolling down her face.

The priest asked Aaron to take his ring first, and he took Emily's hand gently and repeated what the priest told him.

"Emily, I give you this ring as a symbol of my love and faithfulness. As I place it on your finger, I commit my heart and soul to you. I ask you to wear this ring as a reminder of the vows we have spoken today, our wedding day." He placed the ring on her finger right next to her engagement ring. Then Emily took her ring and also took Aaron's left hand.

"Aaron, I give you this ring as a symbol of my love and faithfulness. As I place it on your finger, I commit my heart and soul to you. I ask you to wear this ring as a reminder of the vows we have spoken today, our wedding day." Her voice breaking down and spilling more tears.

The priest spoke one more time...

"By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. Aaron, you may kiss your wife."

I now present to you Supervisory Special Agents Aaron and Emily Hotchner!

Everyone started clapping, and Aaron pulled Emily close to him, kissing her softly and holding her in his arms. They pulled away after a while and turned back to meet their friends. He gently led Emily down the aisle one more time, as his wife now and both were smiling deeply.

The rest of the night was beautiful and amazing, they hugged their friends as they congratulated them, and they ate and drank and celebrated with close friends and family. Emily and Aaron would steal kisses from each other continuously. After a while, Rossi stood up and took the microphone to make a speech.

"I want to thank everyone for being here and for helping me make this beautiful ceremony come true. I have known Aaron almost all my life, and I have watched him struggle and go through the most difficult of situations. My heart fills with joy tonight watching my best friend and brother marry the most amazing woman in the world. Cheers to you guys!" He said, holding his glass up and saluting the newly-married couple. Then Aaron stood up as well, surprising Emily.

"Thank you, everyone, especially you, Dave, for being with me, when I have needed you the most and for making me open my eyes." Then he turned around and looked at Emily. "Two years ago, my life was empty. I was dead inside, and I had nothing to live for anymore. Then God sent me this beautiful angel, who lit up my world. She filled me with joy and life, and she made me fight for life again." He stopped, looking at everyone. "I remember the first day she walked into my office, ready to take the world down on her own...she cursed at me that same day." Everyone laughed, even Emily. "And I knew in that instant that, she had stolen my heart and that one day, I'd have the honor to call her my wife." Then he looked at her intensely and said. "I told you one day that if you walked with me this way, we will make it wherever we want it to be, today I fulfilled my promise to you." He turned his attention to the orchestra and signaled them. They started playing a song he had requested earlier. He gently grabbed her hand and said:

"I decided to make this song our first dance, and our song as a couple, I picked this song because of what you mean to me, and every time I listen to the song, I'll think of you and this day." He pulled her up gently and led her to the dance floor. They walked to the middle on the dance floor and he wrapped his arms around her dancing slowly to the rhythm of the song. The song playing was "Everything I do, I do it for you" by Bryan Adams."

Look into my eyes, you will see

What you mean to me.

Search your heart, search your soul

And when you find me there, you'll search no more…

Don't tell me it's not worth tryin' for.

You can't tell me it's not worth dyin' for.

You know it's true:

Everything I do, I do it for you.

They swayed together around the dance floor; Emily had her arms around his neck and was crying again, Hotch was holding her really close to him, breathing on her neck. Aaron pulled away a little making her look at him; he brushed his finger over her cheek wiping her tears softly.

"We made it; we are here baby, husband and wife. We conquered it all, Em, our love was stronger than anything else, now you're all mine, Mrs. Hotchner." Emily smiled widely, she loved how her name sounded with his last name.

"I like that a lot, Mrs. Hotchner…that sounds so sexy." She said, in a cheeky tone.

"That's because you're sexy as hell, baby." He said, grinning at her.

Look into your heart – you will find

There's nothin' there to hide.

Take me as I am, take my life.

I would give it all, I would sacrifice.

Don't tell me it's not worth fightin' for

I can't help it, there's nothin' I want more

You know it's true:

Everything I do, I do it for you, oh, yeah…..

" I love you so much, Aaron…this is the happiest day of my life" She said, looking at him again while they swayed to the music.

"I love you more, Emily Hotchner, I love you, and that beautiful angel you're going to give me soon." He said, capturing her lips in a passionate and sweet kiss.

There's no love like your love

And no other could give more love.

There's nowhere unless you're there

All the time, all the way, yeah.

Look into your heart, baby...

Oh, you can't tell me it's not worth tryin' for.

I can't help it, there's nothin' I want more.

Yeah, I would fight for you, I'd lie for you,

Walk the wire for you, yeah, I'd die for you…

You know it's true:

Everything I do, oh, I do it for you.

Emily listened to the song while he swayed her around, they were married now, her dream had come true...she was finally happily married to the man of her dreams. She was soon going to be holding their baby in her arms. No matter how much they had struggled, they conquered it all and fought for their love. Emily was sure now, that no matter what they went through in the future, they would be ok, and their love would fight it all.

Everything I do, darling.

You will see it's true.

You will see it's true. Yeah!

Search your heart and your soul

You can't tell it's not worth dying for

I'll be there; I'd walk the fire for you

I'd die for you, Oh yeah.

I'm going all the time, all the way.

She pulled away again…

"I love you, Aaron." She said, kissing his lips softly.

"Always and forever? He asked, smiling at her showing his dimples deeply.

"Probably more than that." She said, as he was spinning her around the floor and catching her in his arms again.

 **THE END**


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